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Video: U.S. agents shot in Mexico

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Special Agent Jaime Zapata, who was shot and killed in the line of duty Tuesday afternoon when he was attacked by unknown assailants while driving between Monterrey, Mexico, and Mexico City.

MEXICO CITY — Mexican drug gang hitmen shot two U.S. immigration and customs agents, the governor of the state where the men were attacked said Wednesday. If the allegation proves true, such an attack could be a major provocation to the United States.

The uncommon shooting of U.S. officials also highlights the risk such agents face as the United States increases its cooperation with Mexico in battling organized crime. ICE said the two men were the first of its agents shot in the line of duty in Mexico.

Special Agent Jaime Zapata, 32, died Tuesday when gunmen attacked the agents' blue Suburban vehicle as they drove through the northern state of San Luis Potosi. Zapata was on assignment to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement attache in Mexico City from his post in Laredo, Texas.

The Americans were shot in the mid-afternoon, south of the city of San Luis Potosi, which is roughly half way between Mexico City and Monterrey, the country's business capital, where drug-related violence has soared over the past year.

The second agent, Victor Avila, was released from a U.S. hospital after receiving treatment for two gunshot wounds to a leg, federal officials said.

Avila provided a "harrowing and very detailed" account of the attack to a doctor, who was interviewed by Telemundo correspondent Raul Torres.

The two were driving down Highway 57 just outside of San Luis Potosi when they noticed two SUVs following them, the doctor said. The two attackers up behind them at a high rate of speed, "aggressively."

The gunmen started firing at them from inside the two vehicles as they approached, and eventually rammed them off the road. The agent said that he remembers then how one of the men got out, assault rifle in hand, and somehow either through window or door ... went inside their vehicle and opened fire point blank at them.

He took nothing, which would eliminate robbery as reason. They were not ambushed by a "fake" road block, the doctor told Telemundo.

The gunmen apparently knew they were attacking law enforcement officers judging from comments they made before opening fire, a U.S. official told The Associated Press. The law enforcement official refused to reveal the specific comments, but said the blue Suburban had diplomatic plates that also may have indicated who was on board.

Texas Congressman Michael McCaul, who was briefed on the incident as chairman of the Homeland Security Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, said the gunmen opened fire after the agents identified themselves as U.S. diplomats.

"This was an intentional ambush against two United States federal agents," he said in a statement. "This tragic event is a game changer. The United States will not tolerate acts of violence against its citizens or law enforcement and I believe we must respond forcefully."

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the fatal attack on American law enforcement, the highest-profile since the 1985 torture and killing of DEA agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena, won't change the U.S. commitment to supporting Mexico in its crackdown on organized crime.

"Let me be clear: Any act of violence against our ICE personnel — or any DHS personnel — is an attack against all those who serve our nation and put their lives at risk for our safety," Napolitano said in a statement. "We remain committed in our broader support for Mexico's efforts to combat violence within its borders."

San Luis Potosi state governor Fernando Toranzo blamed the attack on drug gangs.

"There was an attack where drug gang members ... tried to kill two U.S. officials on a federal highway," Toranzo said in a radio interview.

But federal officials told NBC News' Pete Williams that it's still not clear if the gunmen targeted the men because they were U.S. agents.

It's possible the incident was a carjacking gone awry, as SUVs are highly prized in that area of Mexico, one official told NBC. Texas missionary Nancy Davis shot to death last month in northern Mexico while traveling in a large 2008 Chevrolet pickup, and police believe the attackers were trying to steal the truck.

U.S. and Mexican officials said they were working closely together to investigate the shooting and find those responsible.

Napolitano and Attorney General Holder said Wednesday they would establish a joint task force between the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice, led by the FBI, to work with Mexico on the investigation.

The two agents were driving a four-lane, federal highway from Mexico City to the northern city of Monterrey on routine business and not as part of an investigation, said a U.S. federal law enforcement official who is not authorized to discuss the case publicly. ICE, the agency for immigration enforcement inside the U.S., also investigates drugs, money laundering and smuggling of weapons and other contraband in Mexico, according to former director Julie Myers.

The agents were stopped at what may have appeared to be a military checkpoint, according to one Mexican official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the case. Mexican military officers said they had no checkpoints in the area.

After they stopped, someone opened fire on them, the official said.

Television footage showed a blue sports utility vehicle with several large bullet holes sitting in the median of the highway, which was guarded by heavily armed Mexican federal police.

While San Luis Potosi has seen sporadic incidents of drug violence, it borders two states where cartels are waging a bloody fight for territory.

Mexico is fighting heavily armed and powerful drug cartels that supply the U.S. market. Since President Felipe Calderon launched a military crackdown on organized crime shortly after taking office in December 2006, almost 35,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence.

The U.S. has increased equipment and training support for Mexico in recent years through its $1.4 billion Merida Initiative.

As of January last year, 26 ICE special agents also had trained over 4,000 new Mexican police recruits, according to the embassy.

Zapata, who joined ICE in 2006, served on the Human Smuggling and Trafficking Unit as well as the Border Enforcement Security Task Force. He also served as a member of the U.S. Border Patrol in Yuma, Arizona. The agency didn't provide his age but said he was a native of Brownsville, Texas, who graduated from the University of Texas at Brownsville in 2005.

On Wednesday, President Barack Obama called Zapata's parents to give "his and Michelle's heart felt condolences on the loss of their son.," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

"The President told them that no words could express the sadness of the loss of a loved one, their son served our country admirably," Carney said.

Americans attacked
Though Mexico is seeing record rates of violence, it is rare for U.S. officials to be attacked. The U.S. government, however, has become increasingly concerned about the safety of its employees in Mexico.

In March, an U.S. employee of the American consulate in Ciudad Juarez, her husband and a Mexican tied to the consulate were killed when drug gang members fired on their cars as they left a children's party in the city across from El Paso, Texas.

The U.S. State Department has taken several measures over the past year to protect consulate employees and their families. It has at times authorized the departure of relatives of U.S. government employees in northern Mexican cities.

In July, it temporarily closed the consulate in Ciudad Juarez after receiving unspecified threats. Earlier this month, the consulate in Guadalajara prohibited U.S. government officials from traveling after dark on the road to the airport because of cartel-related attacks in Mexico's second-largest city.

If there is any evidence that drug gangs targeted the two agents, it would mark an escalation in the conflict.

"What we would hope is that there would be an incredibly strong response from the U.S. government ... Otherwise we could have a situation where it's open season on U.S. federal agents at the border," said Steven Camarota of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington.

The Associated Press, Reuters and NBC News contributed to this report.

Tijuana, June 2009: Mexico's drug culture is defined by guns and money, to be sure, but it includes sex, movies, music and even a heavy dose of religion. It also extends across the border into the U.S.

Since 2008, photojournalist Shaul Schwarz has been documenting that culture. Presented here are snapshots of that coverage, starting with what makes it all happen: cash. This stash was confiscated and the alleged courier, seen at center, was detained by Mexican soldiers.

"Since the beginning of President Felipe Calderon's drug war in 2006, Mexican officials have held press conferences to show detained suspects," Schwarz notes. "At the same time the violence persists" -- with nearly 35,000 people killed through 2010.
(Shaul Schwarz / Reportage by Getty Images)
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Editor's note:
This image contains graphic content that some viewers may find disturbing.

Ciudad Juarez, August 2009: Three young men died in this shootout in the parking lot of a shopping mall. In the first half of that year, more than 1,000 drug war deaths were counted in Juarez alone. The city of 1.3 million has been the center of a drug turf war between the Sinaloa and Juarez cartels.
(Shaul Schwarz / Reportage by Getty Images)
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Ciudad Juarez, August 2009: Residents of a neighborhood survey the site where a body was found, presumably another victim of drug turf clashes.
(Shaul Schwarz / Reportage by Getty Images)
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Mexico City, July 2009: Mexico's drug and gang culture has a strong religious streak. Thousands of devotees seen here attend a mass for Santa Muerte -- Saint Death -- a mythical figure condemned by the Catholic Church but embraced by many poor and criminal elements. This gathering is outside a shrine in Tepito, a gritty neighborhood famous for its street markets brimming with pirated and stolen merchandise.

"Its violent and dangerous streets serve as a sort of mecca for Santa Muerte followers," Schwarz says. "Tepito is also home to the most popular Santa Muerte shrine, which sits outside a modest home. On the first day of every month, the shrine fills with followers who come bearing statuettes of the saint. Some pilgrims make their way from the subway on their knees; many smoke weed or cigars with their saints."
(Shaul Schwarz / Reportage by Getty Images)
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Mexico City, October 2009: Devotees of Saint Judas Thaddaeus inhale glue out of plastic bags to get high as they gather outside San Hipolito church during the annual pilgrimage honoring the saint.

Judas Thaddaeus is the Catholic Church's patron saint of desperate cases and lost causes, but in Mexico he is also known as "the saint of both cops and robbers (and prostitutes), as well as one of the biggest spiritual figures for young people in Mexico City," Schwarz says. "He has become the generic patron saint of disreputable activities. His biggest – and most important shrine – is at Hipolito, one of the best preserved colonial churches."
(Shaul Schwarz / Reportage by Getty Images)
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Mexico City, October 2009: This shrine in the Colonia Doctores neighborhood pays homage to both Santa Muerte and Jesus Malverde, reputedly a bandit killed by officials in 1909.

Jesus Malverde is revered by many as a Robin Hood who stole from the rich to give to the poor. Several dozen such shrines exist in this neighborhood and in Tepito, where the cults thrive.
(Shaul Schwarz / Reportage by Getty Images)
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Tijuana, June 2009: A shrine to Santa Muerte sits above a home in the notorious Colonia Libertad neighborhood. The shrine is walled in by the old border fence separating Tijuana from San Diego.
(Shaul Schwarz / Reportage by Getty Images)
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Tijuana, March 2009: A man peeks through a fence toward the U.S., studying Border Patrol movements before crossing. New fences are constantly being built to deter illegal immigrants and drug traffickers.

In 2010, President Barack Obama ordered some 1,200 National Guard troops to the Southwest border and also signed a $600 million bill to fund 1,500 new Border Patrol agents, customs inspectors and law enforcement officials. But the U.S. has also had to pull the plug on a troubled $1 billion "virtual fence" project meant to better guard stretches of the border.
(Shaul Schwarz / Reportage by Getty Images)
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Tijuana, June 2009: Federal police pat down a stripper during the raid of a large dance club. Several nightclubs in the notorious downtown red-light district were raided that night. Other parts of the strip continued as normal, with foreigners approaching young prostitutes as families with small children walked by with little notice and mariachis played on.
(Shaul Schwarz / Reportage by Getty Images)
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Editor's note:
This image contains graphic content that some viewers may find disturbing.

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Ciudad Juarez, December 2008: A woman's body lies on the autopsy table where it was discovered that she was raped and then murdered in what was made to look like a suicide.

"Violence against women has also surged in correlation to the daily multiple uninvestigated and unpunished homicides," Schwarz says. "The coroner's office is open 24/7 and employs more than 100 doctors, technicians and investigative specialists, who cover Ciudad Juarez and northern Chihuahua state."
(Shaul Schwarz / Reportage by Getty Images)
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Tijuana, June 2009: The drug culture is often portrayed by Mexican cinema. Here director Antonio Herrera films a scene for "Vida Mafiosa" -- Mafia Life -- a low budget film glorifying the culture. "This is the only thing selling at the moment for me," Herrera said at the time as he worked to complete his seventh narco film.
(Shaul Schwarz / Reportage by Getty Images)
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Tijuana, November 2010: A scene from "El Baleado" -- The Shooting Victim -- shows young men being executed shortly after smuggling drugs in from a beach. The film was produced by Baja Films Productions, a family-owned company that almost went out of business until family member Oscar Lopez, a San Diego resident, convinced his father to make a narco film.
(Shaul Schwarz / Reportage by Getty Images)
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Tijuana, April 2010: Los Angeles gangsters hang out at the production of a narco film. One of the gang members (not pictured) was an extra in the film. "That was a good excuse for them to come down to TJ and party where the drugs and women are cheap," Schwarz says. "It's common for gangsters/narcos to want to appear in these films."
(Shaul Schwarz / Reportage by Getty Images)
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Tijuana, June 2009: Young Mexicans in the Colonia Libertad neighborhood smoke pot and hang out at a spot overlooking the border with the U.S.
(Shaul Schwarz / Reportage by Getty Images)
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Burbank, Calif., April 2010: Alfredo Rios, better known by his stage name "El Komander", walks down a street just outside the studio of his agent and music producer. From Sinaloa, El Komander is one of the hottest singers/composers of "Narcocorrido" songs, which glorify the drug culture.

"He regularly performs at private parties for Sinaloa's cartel members as well as composes songs for/about them, at times even commissioned by the drug lords," Schwarz says.
(Shaul Schwarz / Reportage by Getty Images)
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Tijuana, April 2010: Narcocorrido performer "The Scorpion" (whose real name is Amador Granados) shows off his belt while on the set of a Baja Films Productions movie that translated into English means: Seagulls Don't Fly Alone.
(Shaul Schwarz / Reportage by Getty Images)
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Culiacan, March 2009: A man and his two sons visit Culiacan's main Jesus Malverde shrine, located across from a McDonald's and near the state legislature.

"The narco culture is becoming more and more mainstream and the shrine draws people of all walks of life," Schwarz says. "Many visitors leave Polaroid photos with pithy notes giving thanks to Malverde."

"The image of his mustachioed face, bedecked with a neckerchief, a gold chain with a pistol charm around his neck, and a large belt-buckle with a pistol around his waist can now be found all over the U.S.," Schwarz adds.
(Shaul Schwarz / Reportage by Getty Images)
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El Monte, Calif., April 2010: The Bukanas De Culiacan band gets ready to perform during the launch event of "Movimiento Alterado," a new form of Narcocorrido gaining popularity. "Narco music clubs are mushrooming all over L.A., and up and down the West Coast," Schwarz says.
"It's a social movement of people who came from nothing and dream of a chance out," said Joel Vazquez, the band's manager. "It's a lot like hip hop or gangsta rap, except it's Mexican culture, not black."
(Shaul Schwarz / Reportage by Getty Images)
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Pico Rivera, Calif., April 2010: Partyers use the bathroom at El Rodeo Night Club, one of the many big Narcocorrido clubs in the Los Angeles area. "The cross-over music scene and culture is generating hybrid fashion trends and lifestyle ties between the Sinaloa mainstream, in Mexico and the Mexican-American mainstream culture in L.A.," Schwarz says.
(Shaul Schwarz / Reportage by Getty Images)
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Ciudad Juarez, August 2009: Police protect a crime scene where two bodies were found in the desert near the border with the U.S. Much of Mexico's drug violence is due to turf wars for control of the border routes.
(Shaul Schwarz / Reportage by Getty Images)
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Culiacan, July 2009: The Jardines del Humaya Cemetery hosts many grave sites dedicated to drug traffickers. Some are two- and three-stories tall; many have bulletproof glass, Italian marble and spiral iron staircases.

"Inside the mausoleums are pictures of the deceased, often men in their 20s and 30s, and signs of Santa Muerte and Jesus Malverde," says Schwarz. "And, as in many of the cemeteries found in the drug-war inflicted Mexico, rows of freshly dug graves await their new tenants."
(Shaul Schwarz / Reportage by Getty Images)
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Apatzingan, April 2010: This home hadn't been touched in the two years after it was shot at and burned down by soldiers in a deadly attack on members of the La Familia drug cartel. Many of its leaders were born in this town, and in December 2010 one of its founders was killed by soldiers there.
(Shaul Schwarz / Reportage by Getty Images)
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The religion

Culiacan, July 2009: A young man makes his way to the shrine of Jesus Malverde. Culiacan is the capital of the northwestern state of Sinaloa, long a hot bed of drug cultivation. For decades traffickers have worshipped at the shrine, helping to spread Malverde's fame. "Followers call Malverde the Robin Hood of Mexico," Schwarz says. "Critics say he has become a symbol of crime. Drug traffickers claim him as their own."
(Shaul Schwarz / Reportage by Getty Images)
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Tultitlan, November 2009:
Santa Muerte devotees attend a service in the courtyard of a church with a 65-foot-tall statue of the mythical figure.
(Shaul Schwarz / Reportage by Getty Images)
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Tijuana, March 2009: Mexico's military shows off the results of a raid on a party: assault weapons and the arrests of 58 people.
(Shaul Schwarz / Reportage by Getty Images)
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Culiacan, July 2009: A new inmate kisses his wife goodbye as their daughter cries.

The Culiacan prison is notorious for violence and riots. "Security forces most often stay outside just along the perimeter of the prison and do not go in to the living quarters themselves," Schwarz says. "Weed, other drugs and cell phones along with statues of saints are common inside this typical Mexican jail."
(Shaul Schwarz / Reportage by Getty Images)
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Tijuana, March 2009: A drug addict sits in a tent where he lives along the border canal with the U.S. "The border canal has become a regular spot for junkies to use heroin," Schwarz says. "While the Mexican police do nothing, the U.S Border Patrol are just out of jurisdiction."
(Shaul Schwarz / Reportage by Getty Images)
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Mexico City, October 2009: Jose Garcia Pichardo prays and smokes a cigar at the Santa Muerte altar in his bedroom. Pichardo said he once was a drug dealer and that two years earlier the Santa saved him from the police.
(Shaul Schwarz / Reportage by Getty Images)
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Ciudad Juarez, August 2009: Women spread flour to soak up blood where a young man was murdered. Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the border city that year, and another 3,000 in 2010.

"As a photojournalist I have covered conflicts and wars since 1996, but Mexico’s present situation haunts me like no other," Schwarz says. "While death statistics have been documented ad nauseum, far less has been said about the broader social reality created by the drug trade. As I continue to cover this story that seems to have no end in sight, I plan to focus not only on the harsh existence in border towns, but on the culture created for millions of Mexicans and Americans inevitably involved in or affected by the drug trade and a desire for “narco luxury.”
(Shaul Schwarz/ Reportage By Gett / Reportage by Getty Images)
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Editor's note:
This image contains graphic content that some viewers may find disturbing.